The development processing time of a color negative light-sensitive material is extremely reduced as a result of introduction of C-41 Processing by Kodak Co. in 1972, where the wet processing time exclusive of drying is 17 minutes and 20 seconds. The processing time is further reduced by CN-16FA Processing recently introduced into the minilab market by Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd., where the wet processing time is 8 minutes and 15 seconds.
However, even in the present time thus directing to rapid processing, when a user orders printing of a photographed negative material, it requires around 30 minutes to finish up the printing by the processing at a shop (so-called minilab) and therefore, a large number of users are actually enforced to attend the photographic shop twice. In order to meet the requirement by users that the order be answered by once attendance to the photographic shop, it is being demanded to achieve further remarkable reduction in the development processing time in the current system of color negative film and color paper.
The development time is conventionally reduced mainly in the desilvering step after the color development step and, stating about the above-described C-41 Processing and CN-16FA Processing, the color development time is 3 minutes and 15 seconds in the former and 3 minutes and 5 seconds in the latter. In CN-16FA Processing, the color development time occupies about 40% of the entire development processing time and accordingly, a large reduction in the development time is in fact very difficult unless the color development time is reduced.
On the other hand, C-41 Processing and development processings (for example, CN-16 FA Processing) having an interchangeability therewith are now popularized widely over the world and therefore, for introducing a rapid processing resulting from reduction in the color development time into the practical market, the rapid processing must have an interchangeability with C-41 Processing.
A color negative light-sensitive material usually comprises several spectral-sensitivity silver halide emulsion layers and is designed to provide optimal balance of gradation among respective emulsion layers upon development, however, when a rapid processing reduced in the color development time is applied thereto, the balance of gradation is lost and thereby the color reproducibility is greatly worsened.
A processing method for achieving the same gradation even when development processings different in the color development time are conducted is disclosed, for example, in JP-A-2-2553 (the term "JP-A" as used herein means an "unexamined published Japanese patent application"). According to this processing method, the same gradation can be obtained by varying the processing temperature, the concentration of color developing agent in the color developer and the color development time. More specifically, the above-described patent publication proves in Example 1 that gradation equal to the gradation (.gamma. value) obtained by the processing where the processing temperature is 38.degree. C., the concentration of color developing agent is 15 mmol/l and the color development time is 3 minutes and 15 seconds (assumed to be the same with C-41 Processing), can be obtained by the processing where the processing temperature is 38.degree. C., the concentration of the color developing agent is 150 mmol/l and the color developing time is 1 minute and 30 seconds.
However, the reduction in the color developing time according to the above-described processing method involves remarkable acceleration of self-coupling reaction of the color developing agent in the solution because the concentration of the color developing agent exceeds 100 mmol/l, whereby the concentration of the color developing agent is lowered after storage to cause large fluctuation in the photographic properties and also the coloration to the light-sensitive material increases due to the products produced by the above-described self-coupling reaction. Further, the color developing agent remaining in the light-sensitive material after the development processing increases and as a result, the density (stain) particularly at the unexposed area is extremely intensified.
When the concentration of the color developing agent is set to 80 mmol/l or less and the color development processing time is reduced to 1 minute and 30 seconds or less by raising the processing temperature to 40.degree. C. or higher so as to overcome the above-described problems, diffusion of the color developing agent plays a rate-determining step and development of the lower layer (an emulsion layer closer to the support) is retarded more than the development of the upper layer (an emulsion layer farther from the support) of the light-sensitive material, so that the balance of gradation between the upper layer and the lower layer is lost and the color reproducibility is markedly deteriorated.